Iftekhar Murtaza showed no emotion on Friday, Nov. 22, 2013, when he was convicted of double murder for beating and kidnapping his former girlfriend's father and sister and setting their bodies on fire. KEVIN SULLIVAN, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Jayprakash Dhanak, 56, of Anaheim Hills. DMV

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Iftekhar Murtaza and Shayona Dhanak are pictured together in this undated handout photo.

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Iftekhar Murtaza was arrested in May of 2007 at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix. BOOKING PHOTO

Iftekhar Murtaza

Who: Iftekhar Murtaza, 29, of Van Nuys

What: Murtaza was found guilty by an Orange County jury Nov. 22, 2013, of murdering his former girlfriend's father and sister and setting their bodies on fire because he viewed them as obstacles to the relationship. He also was found guilty of attempting to kill Shayona Dhanak's mother.

Punishment: The same panel will now decide if he should face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. Murtaza's is the fifth death-penalty trial of 2013 in Orange County.

Next: Testimony in the penalty phase will continue Thursday.

SANTA ANA – A man convicted of killing his former girlfriend's father and sister and setting their bodies on fire likely suffered from narcissistic and anti-social personality disorders that intensified when the relationship with his “first love” ended in 2007, a defense expert testified Wednesday.

Iftekhar Murtaza, 29, of Van Nuys was found guilty last month of double murder for beating and kidnapping Shayona Dhanak's father, Jayprakash Dhanak, 56, and her older sister, Karishma Dhanak, 20, and of attempting to kill her mother because he viewed them as obstacles to the relationship. The attack left Leela Dhanak in a coma for three weeks, but she survived and testified that Murtaza slit her throat and stabbed her in the stomach.

Nancy Kaser-Boyd, a forensic and clinical psychologist hired by Murtaza's defense team, testified that Murtaza felt threatened when Shayona Dhanak said she was going to date other people.

“I think he saw that as a sign that the breakup was real … and he was really going to lose her and that was very threatening to him,” Kaser-Boyd testified during the penalty phase of the trial in Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals' courtroom.

The jury of six men and six women must decide if Murtaza should face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole in the penalty phase of the trial that started Monday.

Kaser-Boyd said she conducted an evaluation of Murtaza that looked at his family history, background and development to try to understand what influenced his actions.

Murtaza was born Aug. 22, 1984, to a middle-class family in Bangladesh, attended a prestigious private school and was surrounded by an extended family. But according to Kaser-Boyd's evaluation, Murtaza exhibited aggressive behaviors as a child, including kicking a baby, kicking sand in children's faces, pushing a pencil into someone's hand and grabbing a tool from a gardener that led to a hand injury.

Murtaza's parents took him to see a psychologist in Bangladesh, and he took medication for four months. But the treatment was not continued, she said.

When Murtaza was 10, his family moved to the U.S., where he was bullied and had a hard time making friends, she said.

Murtaza's mother suffered “episodes of loss of emotional control” after they moved here, and his father worked long hours as a security guard and was not involved in parenting, Kaser-Boyd said.

During his teenage years, Murtaza sold pirated CDs, got arrested for burglarizing a school and was sent to continuation school.

When he met Shayona Dhanak, he said he felt they were “admired by all of their friends,” Kaser-Boyd said.

“He said she was the only person he loved and the only person who understood him,” Kaser-Boyd said.

But when the relationship ended in 2007, Murtaza engaged in conversations about killing Shayona Dhanak's parents and blamed them for the breakup because he is Muslim and they were Hindu.

On cross-examination, Kaser-Boyd said Murtaza likely suffered from narcissistic personality disorder and anti-social personality disorder. Those disorders are characterized by a disregard for the safety of others, a lack of remorse, a grandiose sense of self-importance and arrogant behavior.

Kaser-Boyd said the loss of “one's love” could trigger delusional thinking that could lead to bizarre behavior.

Deputy District Attorney Howard Gundy pointed out that Kaser-Boyd didn't ask Murtaza what he was thinking at the time he committed the crimes.

“What was he thinking when he went to the Dhanak home with three cans of gasoline?” Gundy asked.

“I don't know,” Kaser-Boyd said, adding that Murtaza was advised by his defense team not to talk about the crimes.

Shayona Dhanak's father and sister were kidnapped the night of May 21, 2007, and their Anaheim Hills home was set on fire using gasoline before the assailants fled with them, leaving Leela Dhanak beaten, stabbed and burned.

The bodies of the father and daughter were found about five hours later at Mason Regional Park in Irvine. Both had been doused with gas and set ablaze near a dirt path about 2 miles from where Shayona Dhanak slept in her UCI dorm.

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